Command controller, prefetch buffer and methods for accessing a serial flash in an embedded system

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a command controller and a prefetch buffer, and in particular, to a command controller and a prefetch buffer for accessing a serial flash in an embedded system. An embedded system comprises a serial flash, a processor, a plurality of access devices, and a prefetch buffer. The processor and the plurality of access devices send various commands to read data from or write data to the serial flash. The prefetch buffer temporarily stores a predetermined amount of data before data being read from or written to the serial flash.

BACKGROUND

The invention relates to a command controller and a prefetch buffer, and in particular, to a command controller and a prefetch buffer for accessing a serial flash in an embedded system.

Embedded systems typically comprise flash memory such as serial flash or parallel flash for storing data and code. An embedded system requires a plurality of pins (address pins, data pins, and control pins) to access a parallel flash. Fewer pins are required to access a serial flash. For example, an embedded system only requires four pins (an enabling pin CE, a clock pin SCLK, a data input pin SI, and a data output pin SO) to access the serial flash. Additional commands and addresses, however, must be issued each time the serial flash is accessed. Performance suffers from disadvantages when the large number of additional commands and addresses are issued due to frequently access. Additionally, the serial flash is controlled by vendor specific instructions, which vary between manufacturers, resulting in compatibility problems.

SUMMARY

An object of the invention is to provide a command controller applied in an embedded system. The embedded system comprises a processor, a plurality of access devices and a serial flash. The processor and the plurality of access devices send various commands to read data from or write data to the serial flash. The command controller comprises a direct reader and a command interpreter. The direct reader processes a first command to generate a first instruction according to a trapping input wherein the first command can be from the processor or any access device and the first instruction is shifted to the serial flash for reading data in the serial flash. The command interpreter interprets a second command to generate a second instruction according to the trapping input wherein the second command is from the processor and the second instruction is shifted to the serial flash for reading data from or writing data to the serial flash.

Another object of the invention is to provide a prefetch module applied in an embedded system. The embedded system comprises a processor, a plurality of access devices and a serial flash. The processor and the plurality of access devices send various commands to read data from or write data to the serial flash. The prefetch module comprises a command interpreter and a prefetch buffer. The command interpreter interprets a second command to generate a second instruction wherein the second command is from the processor and the second instruction is shifted to the serial flash for reading data from or writing data to the serial flash. The prefetch buffer temporarily stores a predetermined amount of data before data being read from or written to the serial flash.

A further object of the invention is to provide an embedded system. The embedded system comprises a serial flash, a processor, a plurality of access devices, and a command controller. The processor and the plurality of access devices send various commands. The command controller processes the various commands to generate and send various instructions to the serial flash to read data from or write data to the serial flash.

A further object of the invention is to provide an embedded system. The embedded system comprises a serial flash, a processor, a plurality of access devices, and a prefetch buffer. The processor and the plurality of access devices send various commands to read data from or write data to the serial flash. The prefetch buffer temporarily stores a predetermined amount of data before data being read from or written to the flash.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method of controlling a command controller applied in an embedded system. The method comprises: processing a first command from a processor to generate a first instruction according to a trapping input and shifting the first instruction to the serial flash for reading data; and interpreting a second command from the processor or any access device to generate a second instruction according to the trapping input and shifting the second instruction to the serial flash for reading or writing data.

Yet another object is to provide a method of controlling a prefetch buffer applied in an embedded system. The method comprises: continually storing data in the prefetch buffer until the prefetch buffer is full, and transmitting data from/to the serial flash.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following detailed description, given by way of example and not intended to limit the invention solely to the embodiments described herein, will best be understood in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an embedded system according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2A shows a block diagram of the serial flash interface;

FIG. 2B is a flow chart of access command interpreting process;

FIG. 3A shows a block diagram of the command controller;

FIG. 3B shows another block diagram of the command controller;

FIG. 4A shows a schematic diagram of the command register in FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4B˜4E show schematic diagrams of a series of instructions, data, and address sent to the serial flash 110 different operations of the command controller;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a prefetch buffer reading control method applied to an embedded system;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a prefetch buffer writing control method applied to an embedded system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A detailed description of the invention is provided in the following. Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an embedded system 100 according to one embodiment of the invention. The embedded system 100 comprises a serial flash 110, a processor 120, a flash DMA engine 130, an access device 140, a serial flash request arbiter 150, a serial flash interface 160, a prefetch buffer controller 170 and a prefetch buffer 180. The processor 120, flash DMA engine 130, and access device 140 can access the serial flash 110. For example, the processor 120 can read/write the serial flash 110 and the flash DMA engine 130 can move data in the serial flash 110 to a DRAM (not shown). If there are more than two elements requesting access to the serial flash 110 at the same time, the serial flash request arbiter 150 chooses one element to send a command through the bus BUS_2 to access the serial flash 110. Additionally, the command can be issued by the processor 120 directly through the bus BUS_1 without going through bus BUS_2. The prefetch buffer controller 180 is utilized to collect and translate several single read access requests to the burst read access for reducing total access time. A detailed description of reducing access time through the prefetch buffer controller 180 will be described later and access to the serial flash is provided in the following.

Please refer to FIG. 2A. FIG. 2A shows a block diagram of the serial flash interface 160. The serial flash interface 160 comprises a command controller 210, a write data register 220, an address register 230, a command register 240, an instruction register 250 and a parallel-serial shift register 260. The command controller 210 interprets the flash command (access command COM_(access) from bus BUS_1 or direct command COM_(write)/COM_(read) from bus BUS_2) to the flash instruction by the help of the plurality of registers and trapping input TRAPin. Finally the parallel-serial shift register 260 converts the instruction from a parallel form to a serial form and shifts the instruction to the serial flash 110 (in FIG. 1). A detailed description of access command interpreting process is provided in the following.

Please refer to FIG. 2B. FIG. 2B is a flow chart of access command interpreting process. Steps of the process are given in the following.

-   -   Step 20: The processor 120 sets the plurality of registers         220-250 through the bus BUS_1 initially.     -   Step 22: The access command COM_(access) is issued from the         processor 120 to the command controller 210 through the bus         BUS_1.     -   Step 24: A corresponding action (e.g. bulk erase, byte read,         byte write . . . ) is determined according to the value of         command register 240, which is set in the previous step 20.     -   Step 26: The command controller 210 performs interpretation to         generate a series of instructions, data, and address. For         example, in the case of byte write action, vendor-dependent         instruction is generated first, data to be written and writing         address are generated in turn. Please note that the         vendor-dependent instruction is generated according to the         instruction register 250, data written to the serial flash 110         is temporarily stored in the write data register 220, and the         writing address is temporarily stored in the address register         230.

Further discussion of the instruction register 250 is provided in the following. There are various kinds of instruction register implementation. Please note that the implementation of instruction register is only meant to serve as an example, and is not meant to be taken as a limitation. For example, if the space of instruction register is large enough to store the whole instruction sets of a specific serial flash vendor, the instruction register 250 does not need to be set (or initialized) each time of command interpreting process. Otherwise, the instruction register 250 needs to be reset (or re-initialized) each time of command interpreting process. Additionally, different serial flash vendor provides different instruction sets, thus, the instruction register 250 needs to further update its content if the vendor of serial flash changes. Similarly, if the space of the instruction register 250 is large enough to store a plurality of instruction sets corresponding to different serial flash vendor, the instruction register 250 can simply provide the instruction set of current vendor according to the trapping input TRAP_(in) rather than reset again.

Please refer to FIG. 3A. FIG. 3A shows a block diagram of the command controller 210. The command controller 210 comprises a direct reader 320, a command interpreter 310, and a multiplexer (MUX) 330. The direct reader 320 processes the read command COM_(read) (from bus BUS_2) to generate an instruction INS_(temp) _(—) ₂ according to the trapping input TRAP_(in). For example, if the trapping input TRAP_(in) from the vendor is ST, then the direct reader 320 generates the interpreted instruction INS_(temp) _(—) ₂ equal to “03h”. If the trapping input TRAP_(in) from the vendor is ATMEL, then the direct reader 320 generates the interpreted instruction INS_(temp) _(—) ₂ equal to “E8h”. The command interpreter 310 also interprets the access command COM_(access) (from bus BUS_1) to generate another instruction INS_(temp) _(—) ₁ according to the trapping input TRAP_(in). For example, in a read status access, if the trapping input TRAP_(in) from the vendor is ST, then the command interpreter 310 generates the interpreted instruction INS_(temp) _(—) ₁ equal to “05h”. If the trapping input TRAP_(in) from the vendor is ATMEL, then the command interpreter 310 generates the interpreted instruction INS_(temp) _(—) ₁ equal to “D7h”. The MUX 330 selects one instruction from the instructions INS_(temp) _(—) ₁ and INS_(temp) _(—) ₂ to be the interpreted instruction INS_(com). After the interpreted instruction is generated, the corresponding flash data REG_(data) and the flash address REG_(add) will be sent in turn.

In the case of access command COM_(access) (through bus BUS_1), if the corresponding action handled by the command interpreter 310 is to perform reading (determined by the register value REG_(com)), the command interpreter 310 sends the interpreted instruction INS_(temp) _(—) ₁ (according to the trapping input TRAP_(in) and the register value REG_(ins)), and the reading address from register value REG_(add). Similarly, if the corresponding action is to perform writing (determined by the register value REG_(com)), the command interpreter 310 sends the interpreted instruction INS_(temp) _(—) ₁ (according to the trapping input TRAP_(in) and the register value REG_(ins)), the writing data from register value REG_(data), and the writing address from register value REG_(add).

In the case of read command COM_(read) (through bus BUS_2), the corresponding action handled by the direct reader 320 is to perform reading. The direct reader 320 sends the interpreted instruction INS_(temp) _(—) ₂ (according to the trapping input TRAP_(in) and the register value REG_(ins)), and the reading address from register value REG_(add).

Please refer to FIG. 3B. FIG. 3B shows another block diagram of the command controller 210. Compared with the previous one in FIG. 3A, the key difference is that the direct reader 320 is replace by the reader/writer 420. The reader/writer 420 not only can handle the read command COM_(read) but also the write command COM_(write).

Please refer to FIGS. 4A-4E. FIG. 4A shows a schematic diagram of the command register 240 in FIG. 2. FIGS. 4B-4E show schematic diagrams of a series of instructions, data, and addresses sent to the serial flash 110 in different operations (e.g. bulk erase, byte read, byte write . . . ) of the command controller 210. The command register 240 comprises a byte read segment 411, a byte write segment 412, a bulk erase segment 413, a WRSR (write status register) segment 414, and a RDSR (read status register) segment 415. For example, the size of each segment in the register 240 is equal to one bit. In FIG. 4B, a bulk erase instruction is generated after the bulk erase segment 413 is set by the processor 120. The command interpreter 320 processes the bulk erase access command COM_(access) to output the bulk erase instruction INS_(com) according to the trapping input TRAP_(in). No other flash data REG_(data) or flash address REG_(add) is followed with the bulk erase instruction INS_(com) and sent to the serial flash 110. In FIG. 4C, a read status instruction is generated after the RDSR segment 415 is set by the processor 120. The command interpreter 310 processes the RDSR command COM_(access) to output RDSR instruction INS_(com) according to trapping input TRAP_(in). No other flash data REG_(data) or REG_(add) is followed with the RDSR instruction INS_(com) and sent to the serial flash 110. After the RDSR command COM_(access) is triggered and completed, the return status is available from the serial flash 110. In FIG. 4D, a write status instruction is generated after the WRSR segment 414 is set by the processor 120. The command interpreter 320 processes the WRSR command COM_(access) to output WRSR instruction INS_(com) according to the trapping input TRAP_(in). In FIG. 4E, a byte program instruction is generated after the byte write segment 412 is set by the processor 120. The command interpreter 320 processes the byte write command COM_(access) to output byte write instruction INS_(com) according to the trapping input TRAP_(in). After the access command COM_(access) is triggered, a series comprising instruction, address, data and handshaking is generated and sent to the serial flash 110. Then the byte data can be written to the assigned address of the serial flash 110.

From the above description it is clear that the command controller can translate various commands to corresponding instructions even though these instructions are based on different instruction sets provided by different serial flash vendors. Thus compatibility issues can be solved. A detailed description of the prefetch buffer 170 (in FIG. 1) is provided in the following.

Please refer to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a flow chart of a prefetch buffer reading control method applied to an embedded system. Steps of the method are given in the following.

-   -   Step 502: The prefetch buffer is idle.     -   Step 504: A processor or any other access device issues a         request to a serial flash request arbiter to read wanted data.     -   Step 506: The prefetch buffer controller determines if data in         the prefetch buffer is the wanted data. If yes, proceed to step         508; Otherwise proceed to step 510.     -   Step 508: The prefetch buffer controller returns data in the         prefetch buffer to the processor or any other access and         continues fetching until the prefetch buffer is full.     -   Step 510: The prefetch buffer controller determines if data is         being fetched from a serial flash and if it is ready to be read         by the processor or any other access device. If yes, proceed to         step 512; Otherwise proceed to step 514.     -   Step 512: Wait and determine whether data is ready. If yes,         proceed to step 508; Otherwise proceed to step 514.     -   Step 514: Abort previous command if present and issue a new         request to a serial flash interface.

Please refer to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is a flow chart of a prefetch buffer writing control method applied to an embedded system. Steps of the method are given in the following.

-   -   Step 602: A processor or any other access device issues a         request to a serial flash request arbiter to write data to a         serial flash.     -   Step 604: The processor or any other access device writes data         to the prefetch buffer until full.     -   Step 606: The processor or any other access device sets a         plurality of related parameters (e.g. a written address or a         serial flash vendor).     -   Step 608: The processor or any other access device triggers a         command controller to translate and send commands to the serial         flash.     -   Step 610: The command controller polls a serial flash status.     -   Step 612: Determine if the serial flash is ready. If yes,         proceed to step 614; Otherwise, proceed to step 612.     -   Step 614: The command controller sends a write enable         instruction to the serial flash.     -   Step 616: The command controller sends sequence of an         interpreted instruction (OP code), a writing address, and data         until the prefetch buffer is full.

Compared with the related art, the prefetch buffer of the present invention can translate several single access requests into a burst access. Hence access frequency decreases and performance is increased. Additionally, the command controller can translate various commands to corresponding instructions even though these instructions are provided by different instruction sets from different serial flash vendors.

While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements. 

1. A command controller applied in an embedded system, said embedded system comprising a processor, a plurality of access devices and a serial flash, said processor and said plurality of access devices send various kinds of commands for reading data from or writing data to the serial flash, comprising: a direct reader for processing a first command to generate a first instruction according to a trapping input wherein the first command can be from the processor or any access device and the first instruction is shifted to the serial flash for reading data in the serial flash; and a command interpreter for interpreting a second command to generate a second instruction according to the trapping input wherein the second command is from the processor and the second instruction is shifted to the serial flash for reading data from or writing data to the serial flash; wherein the trapping input comprises information of a serial flash vendor.
 2. The command controller according to claim 1, wherein the command controller further comprises a multiplexer (MUX) coupled to the direct reader and the command interpreter for selecting a selected instruction from the first instruction and the second instruction to shift to the serial flash.
 3. The command controller according to claim 2, wherein the embedded system further comprises a parallel-serial shift register coupled to the MUX and the serial flash for converting the selected instruction in parallel form to the instruction in serial form and shifting the selected instruction to the serial flash.
 4. The command controller according to claim 1, wherein the direct reader processes the first command to generate the first instruction equal to a first value.
 5. The command controller according to claim 4, wherein the first value is 03h or E8h.
 6. The command controller according to claim 1, wherein there are various second commands comprising a bulk erase command, a read status command, a write status command, and a byte program command.
 7. The command controller according to claim 6, wherein the command interpreter interprets the read status command to generate a read status instruction comprising a read status register instruction that is equal to a second value.
 8. The command controller according to claim 7, wherein the second value is 05h or D7h.
 9. A prefetch module applied in an embedded system, said embedded system comprises a processor, a plurality of access devices and a serial flash, said processor and said plurality of access devices send various kinds of commands to read data from or write data to the serial flash, comprising: a command interpreter for interpreting a second command to generate a second instruction wherein the second command is from the processor and the second instruction is shifted to the serial flash for reading data from or writing data to the serial flash; and a prefetch buffer for temporarily storing an predetermined amount of data before data is read from or written to the serial flash.
 10. The prefetch module according to claim 9, wherein if data in the prefetch buffer is wanted to be read by the processor or any access device, the processor or any access device will read data from the prefetch buffer and the prefetch buffer will keep fetching until full; Otherwise the prefetch buffer fetches wanted data from the serial flash first.
 11. The prefetch module according to claim 9, wherein the processor or any access device writes data to the prefetch buffer until the prefetch buffer is full, and writes data to the serial flash until the prefetch buffer is empty.
 12. The prefetch module according to claim 11, wherein, the command interpreter further sends an instruction to determine whether the serial flash is ready to be written to.
 13. An embedded system comprising: a serial flash; a processor and a plurality of access devices for sending various commands; and a command controller for processing the various commands to generate various instructions and sending the various instructions to the serial flash to read data from or write data to the serial flash wherein the command controller further comprises: a direct reader for processing a first command to generate a first instruction according to a trapping input wherein the first command can be from the processor or any access device and the first instruction is shifted to the serial flash for reading data in the serial flash; and a command interpreter for interpreting a second command to generate a second instruction according to the trapping input wherein the second command is from the processor and the second instruction is shifted to the serial flash for reading data from or writing data to the serial flash; wherein the trapping input comprises information of a serial flash vendor.
 14. The embedded system according to claim 13, wherein the command controller further comprises a multiplexer (MUX) coupled to the direct reader and the command interpreter for selecting a selected instruction from the first instruction and the second instruction to shift to the serial flash.
 15. The embedded system according to claim 14, wherein the embedded system further comprises a parallel-serial shift register coupled to the MUX and the serial flash for converting the selected instruction in parallel form to the instruction in serial form and shifting the selected instruction to the serial flash.
 16. The command controller according to claim 13, wherein the direct reader processes the first command to generate the first instruction equal to a first value.
 17. The embedded system according to claim 16, wherein the first value is 03h or E8h.
 18. The embedded system according to claim 13, wherein there are various second commands comprising a bulk erase command, a read status command, a write status command, and a byte program command.
 19. The command controller according to claim 18, wherein the command interpreter interprets the read status command to generate a read status instruction comprising a read status register instruction equal to a second value.
 20. The embedded system according to claim 19, wherein the second value is 05h or D7h.
 21. An embedded system comprising: a serial flash; a processor and a plurality of access devices for sending various commands to read data from or write data to the serial flash; and a prefetch buffer for temporarily storing a predetermined amount of data before data being read form or written to the serial flash.
 22. The embedded system according to claim 21, wherein if data in the prefetch buffer is wanted to be read by the processor or any access device, the processor or any access device will read data from the prefetch buffer and the prefetch buffer will keep fetching until full; Otherwise the prefetch buffer fetches wanted data from the serial flash first.
 23. The embedded system according to claim 21, wherein the processor or any access device writes data to the prefetch buffer until the prefetch buffer is full, and writes data to the serial flash until the prefetch buffer is empty.
 24. A method of controlling a command controller applied in an embedded system, said embedded system comprises a processor, a plurality of access devices and a serial flash, said processor and said plurality of access devices send various commands to read data from or write data to the serial flash through the command controller, comprising: processing a first command from the processor to generate a first instruction according to a trapping input and shifting the first instruction to the serial flash for reading data; and interpreting a second command from the processor or any access device to generate a second instruction according to the trapping input and shifting the second instruction to the serial flash for reading or writing data; wherein the trapping input comprises information of a serial flash vendor.
 25. The method of controlling the command controller according to claim 24 further comprising selecting one selected instruction to be shifted to the serial flash from the first instruction and the second instruction.
 26. The method of controlling the command controller according to claim 25, wherein the step of selecting one instruction further comprises converting the selected instruction to a serial form and shifting the selected instruction of the serial form to the serial flash.
 27. The method of controlling the command controller according to claim 24, wherein the step of processing the first command further comprises processing the first command to generate the first instruction that is equal to a first value.
 28. The method of controlling the command controller according to claim 27, wherein the first value is 03h or E8h.
 29. The method of controlling the command controller according to claim 24, wherein there are various second commands comprising a bulk erase command, a read status command, a write status command, and a byte program command.
 30. The method of controlling the command controller according to claim 29, wherein the step of interpreting the second command further comprises interpreting the read status command to generate a read status instruction comprising a read status register instruction equal to a second value.
 31. The method of controlling the command controller according to claim 30, wherein the second value is 05h or D7h.
 32. A method of controlling a prefetch buffer applied in an embedded system, said embedded system comprises a processor, a plurality of access devices and a serial flash, said processor and said plurality of access devices send various commands to read data from or write data to the serial flash through the prefetch buffer comprising: Continuing to store data in the prefetch buffer until the prefetch buffer is full; and transmitting data from/to the serial flash.
 33. The method of controlling the prefetch buffer according to claim 32, wherein the step of transmitting data further comprises: reading data in the prefetch buffer; updating a read pointer to decrease an amount of valid data in the prefetch buffer; issuing a sequential read command if the amount of valid data is less than a threshold value; and reading data from the serial flash until the prefetch buffer is full.
 34. The method of controlling the prefetch buffer according to claim 32, wherein the step of transmitting data further comprises: polling serial flash status; checking if the serial flash is ready; sending a write enable command to the serial flash; writing data until the prefetch buffer is empty. 